2011 Mount Washington Road Race A Pain For 2-Time Champion Eric Blake

It was the downhill start of the 51st annual Mount Washington Road Race that crushed him Saturday morning.

"I couldn't run downhill at the start," said Blake, 32, of New Britain. "I got a bad start, and I never caught up to the leaders.

"Any type of flat, I would just drop way back. Hills were easier. I felt like I had one leg on the flats. It was a tough, tough day."

There's not a lot of flat on the 7.6-mile trek up Mount Washington's auto road. But Blake, who has been bothered by a right leg injury (mainly his hamstring and hip) all spring, fell back early and couldn't catch up.

He was ninth, his worst finish at the race he has made his own ever since his first attempt at the mountain in 2004, when he finished fourth. He was second in 2005, won in 2006 and 2008 and finished second in 2009 and last year. He is always a contender. He wore No. 2; last year's winner Chris Siemers was injured and did not race this year.

Blake finished in 1:06:53. Standing on the top of the mountain, with the fog swirling and wind blowing, he was clearly disappointed.

"I'll say at Mile 1, I still thought actually I could get top three," said Blake, who is the cross country and track coach at Central Connecticut. "I saw Rickey. I saw Tommy Manning. I thought I'd have a better second half. I was in sixth, seventh and eighth throughout the race.

"The race is such a big part of my [life]. It's such a big weekend. Coming in, I thought I could have a solid finish. If nobody had a good day, who knows, maybe I could have won. Now I'm going to take a break and, hopefully, be healthy for something in the fall. I've got to be healthy because there's no point in racing like this."

Blake raced in March in Holyoke, Mass., but since then, has only trained because of the injury. He skipped the Litchfield Hills Road Race last Sunday, a race he usually uses as a tuneup for Mount Washington.

Still, he thought he would be OK, especially at Mount Washington, where he has been hard to beat for so many years.

"So much of it is mental," he said. "There have been other races I've gone into not feeling good but things have gone well. You try to convince yourself."

Meanwhile, Gates and Manning were dueling up front, for the most part, out of Blake's sight. Manning took a decent lead about midway through, but Gates, who was disappointed with his fourth place finish last year, reeled Manning back in.

"Tommy took the lead, and it just became a mental race for 31/2 miles just keeping him in sight and trying not to get disheartened," said Gates, 30. "Once he started getting a little bit bigger — 2 inches, 3 inches, then life-size … it was really exciting. It was a fun race today.

"I think, honestly, I was a little cocky after 2009 and didn't do the training I needed to do. I came in fourth last year with a 1:02 or 1:03. I just turned 30 a month ago. You don't get faster after 30. You get smarter."

Wethersfield native Donna Smyers might agree with that. She hasn't run any faster, but then again, she hasn't slowed down much either since she started running Mount Washington in 1994.

Smyers, 53, now of Adamant, Vt., finished as the 24th woman, in 1:29:25.

"It gets harder to keep the same time," said Smyers, who is the sister of former Ironman Triathlon World Champion Karen Smyers. "I'm not far off the times I was doing 15 years ago. My goal is to keep breaking 1:30.

"I read in Dave Dunham's book [about the race] I have the record of the most sub-1:30s. I have the most top 10 places, or tied for that, and the most sub-1:30s, but I've never placed better than fifth. I'm really consistent at being above average."

There's something to be said for that. Watching the people walking with their hands on their knees up the steep, steep grade to the finish line, watching a 91-year-old waving cheerfully to the press truck (which was going back down the mountain) around the sixth mile, watching the people who heard if they hurried they would break the two-hour mark rouse themselves from a walk to a pained jog at the finish, you were left with the feeling that pretty much everybody who competed in this race was not your average person.